The full first day's draw for the men's side of the 2011 AFL International Cup is listed below.

The seedings were basely mainly on IC08 placements, and sees the 18 teams placed in six pools. The top two from each pool go through to Division 1 and the bottom team from each goes through to Division 2. See Lightning tournament opening and seedings for the seedings and the full discussion of how the later rounds will be played. Once the Cup is underway we'll post articles showing the upcoming matches.

For the first time the nations competing at the 2011 AFL International Cup will have not just the Cup to win but also prize money.

Nominal Prize money has been introduced for the first time. The AFL's Tony Woods explained, "While we recognise the amateur status of the tournament, the spirit of the International Cup and the motivation behind participants we are keen to provide a small token reward that can be used to assist in the development of the game on the team’s return to their country. Prize money will be awarded by way of a grant to the recipient countries for the 2012 season."

2011 sees the inaugural Women's International Cup in Australian Football. Unfortunately Italy appears to have unexpectedly decided they will not be attending, which has thrown some uncertainty into the schedule.

The AFL has said that given there is no women's International Cup history, rankings were random and drawn out of a hat.

The Australian Football League has released the draw and details of the 2011 AFL International Cup. The fourth Cup will feature 18 men's sides and 5 women's sides. Here we will focus on the man, and detail the women's schedule in a later article.

The men's competition will see the teams seeded from 1 to 18 and then sorted into 6 approximately even pools for a lightning tournament in the style of the 2011 NAB AFL Cup (pre-season). On the opening day the teams will play each of the other two members of their pool in games of 2 x 15 minute halves (10 min half-time break). The result will be 6 pools of 3 sorted teams. The top 2 from each will go through to Division 1 and the bottom side from each will form Division 2. Hence there will be 12 in Div 1 and 6 in Div 2.

The AFL today announced the final list of 18 participating nations in the men's edition of the 4th International Cup in August 2011, and 5 nations in the inaugural women's division.

The countries that will participate in the men's carnival are; Canada, China, Denmark, East Timor, Fiji, France, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Japan, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peace Team (comprising of both Israeli and Palestinian players), Sweden, South Africa, Tonga and USA.

There are four men's teams making their International Cup debut; East Timor, Fiji, France, and Tonga. Not making the journey are Switzerland, who were still hoping to make their IC debut earlier this year, and IC08 participants Samoa and Finland.

For the first time five women’s teams will also participate; Canada, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, USA and a combined multicultural and Indigenous team.

Venues in Sydney’s Greater West will host matches from Saturday August 13 to Sunday August 21 and Melbourne’s Royal Park will host matches on Wednesday August 24 and Friday August 26.

Two International Cup matches will be played as AFL curtain-raisers; before Sydney Swans v St Kilda at ANZ Stadium on Sunday August 21 and the grand final match will be played prior to Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday August 27. Both AFL matches will feature a ‘Parade of Nations’ where all teams will be presented at halftime.

The NZ Hawks have named their team after their final training camp mid-June. The squad has many familiar faces to those who follow NZ footy with some of the faces already following the pathway from the U16's to the senior team.

WFN will provide the exact details of the squad as soon as they are available but for a snapshot see here.

The AFL International Development Manager, Tony Woods, has advised us that the draw for the 4th International Cup will be released to competing nations on Friday 1st July.

WFN hopes to publish the draw probably some time late Friday Australian time.

The AFL has several times extended the deadline for competing countries to give all possible competitors the maximum chance to make IC11 but Friday's release should be the final version and contain details of the expected lightning format and how teams will be seeded into two divisions afterwards. The exciting new format should ensure all nations get to play against a range of opposition whilst still focusing the best teams into the semi-final stages.

Pictured is the 2008 trophy surrounded by some of the national jumpers.

Nauru were one of the great success stories of IC08. After missing out in 2005 the islanders roared back with impressive performances that seemed to get better each game. They opened with a loss to eventual champs PNG and were never defeated again - by the end of the tournament looked like they may have deserved a top 4 finish.

A key part of their improvement was getting experience in country Victoria prior to the tournament, with players getting games across several regional clubs. Not only was competitive footy important but so too was getting used to grass, given the notorious crushed phosphate surface they play on at home.

Once again the Nauruans are returning to Australia and looking to be billeted for part of the tournament. They're looking for support from country Victoria again including offering labouring services. Full details can be seen in an article on the Bendigo Advertiser site. They need a quick response so anyone that can help please consider this promptly.

worldfootynews.com can confirm that Samoa has withdrawn from the 2011 AFL International Cup.

The islanders were indeed the team we alluded to in an earlier story. The local league has struggled recently, and we've been aware for some time that footy has been under pressure there and the drop-out represents a low point.

Fortunately things appear to be looking up from here. AFL Samoa's Bernard Woodland has told us of several promising changes on the horizon that should steer the country's program back towards an upward path.

Samoa finished 7th in 2002 and 5th in 2005 before dropping to 10th in 2008. Expect to see them return to IC competition in 2014.

We'll have more details on their withdrawal and upcoming changes in the next few days.

worldfootynews.com understands that another country has withdrawn from the International Cup.

A couple of late drop-outs is not unexpected, especially with a big field of "possibles", but this country has been a regular good competitor at previous Cups. We'll publish details when we have confirmed them.

The withdrawal leaves a list of 19 nations (not including a possible multicultural side) to compete in this year's men's event. With at least one other country not completely over the line it demonstrates why the AFL are leaving the draw announcement until late - frustrating for fans (we're getting plenty of queries) but hard to avoid.

Finally the news the women’s football world has been waiting for - the announcement of the PNG 2011 International Cup Women’s Team! After watching the men’s team win IC08, one can only wonder at the talent these girls are going to display. Will they prove to be as formidable as the men, or can the experience of Ireland, USA and Canada keep them in check. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Read on for the team list and to see some pics of the girls at the trials.

The AFL has confirmed to worldfootynews.com that two high profile footballers will not be eligible to appear at the International Cup in 2011. While it would be good publicity to have them in the International Cup the AFL feels exemptions for these players would not be fair to opposition countries.

Israel Folau's development with GWS continues in a positive direction as he has been kicking goals for the club recently in a move to the forward line, but he will not be eligible for Tonga (he is of Tongan descent but born and raised in NSW and Queensland).

Three time AFL premiership player, veteran Mal Michael, was reported last week to have dominated the ruck for Aberfeldie Park in the EDFL. He was born in PNG but mostly raised in Australia. Mal has closely followed the PNG Mosquitoes but also does not fit the International Cup criteria, as specified below.